Women’s Rights
Threatened and Beaten, Afghan Women Defy Taliban With Protests
KABUL, Afghanistan — On a raw January morning, Khujasta Elham trudged through a snowstorm to sign her name on a government register. Before the Taliban seized power in August, Ms. Elham was director of women’s programs for Afghanistan’s Civil Service Commission. But she and most other female government workers were prevented from returning to work […]
Read MoreChina Moves to Overhaul Protections for Women’s Rights, Sort Of
The announcement was presented — in official news reports, on social media — as a major victory for Chinese women. The government was set to overhaul its law governing women’s rights for the first time in decades, to refine the definition of sexual harassment, affirm prohibitions on workplace discrimination and ban forms of emotional abuse. […]
Read MoreThe New Political Cry in South Korea: ‘Out With Man Haters’
SEOUL — They have shown up whenever women rallied against sexual violence and gender biases in South Korea. Dozens of young men, mostly dressed in black, taunted the protesters, squealing and chanting, “Thud! Thud!” to imitate the noise they said the “ugly feminist pigs” made when they walked. “Out with man haters!” they shouted. “Feminism […]
Read MoreIn Mexico, Women Directors Take the Lead
MEXICO CITY — As a young girl growing up in 1980s Mexico, the idea of becoming a filmmaker was almost unthinkable for Fernanda Valadez. Other than a movie club at the local university, there were no cinemas in her hometown, Guanajuato, and films made by women were few and far between. “The dream of making […]
Read MoreA Plan Forms in Mexico: Help Americans Get Abortions
In Texas, a new law bars doctors from providing pills to induce abortions after seven weeks of pregnancy, and adds penalties of jail time and a fine of up to $10,000 for anyone who mails or delivers the medication. Legal experts say such laws may be challenged after the F.D.A. decision, but for now, these […]
Read Morebell hooks, Pathbreaking Black Feminist, Dies at 69
“I think of bell hooks as being pivotal to an entire generation of Black feminists who saw that for the first time they had license to call themselves Black feminists,” Kimberlé Crenshaw, a law professor at Columbia, said in an interview. “She was utterly courageous in terms of putting on paper thoughts that many of […]
Read MoreProgress for Saudi Women Is Uneven, Despite Cultural Changes and More Jobs
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — At the cramped shop where Kholoud Ahmed sells the traditional Muslim women’s gowns known as abayas, the rainbow of colors is a revelation. In the past, women in Riyadh typically dressed in the same black abaya no matter where they were going. Now, observed Ms. Ahmed, 21, there’s a differently colored […]
Read MoreTaliban Decree an End to Forced Marriages in Afghanistan
The Taliban decreed on Friday that they were banning forced marriage of women in Afghanistan, a move apparently meant to address criteria the international community considers a precondition to recognizing the new government and restoring aid to the war-torn country. The announcement was attributed to the Taliban’s reclusive chief, Sheikh Haibatullah Akhundzada, a cleric chosen […]
Read MoreAdele’s White Pantsuit in Her Oprah Interview Sent A Powerful Message
As the re-emergence of Adele continues with the one-two punch of an Oprah Winfrey interview and a “One Night Only” concert at the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles in front of a starry, starry crowd — all in prelude to an album release on Friday — so, too, does her mastery of the art the […]
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